Ipswich NHS trust deploys Big Data analytics

System helps to reduce number of people who do not show up for appointments

Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust is deploying a new business intelligence and analytics system to wrangle its Big Data.

The system will be used to analyse quality, activity and financial performance metrics to identify areas of interest or concern as quickly as possible.

Michael Meers, CIO of Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust, said that prior to implementing the new MedeAnalytics system the trust was using a content management system to collate all the data across the various services it provides.

Data had to be manually taken out of the CMS and input it to a series of Excel spreadsheets for analysis and reporting.

Meers said the system provided the opportunity to move away from spreadsheet-based reporting to a web-based platform that was more flexible, easier to use and had more scope for expansion.

The system provides the NHS trust with a suite of performance management modules that is enabling it to monitor key performance indicators across the organisation, and drill down to individual patient records within a couple of clicks.

The trust is currently focusing on reducing its number of did-not-attends (DNAs) and has introduced an appointment reminder service in three areas (ophthalmology, diabetes and musculoskeletal physiotherapy), and is using the system to measure the success of its efforts.

Meers said: “[This] has enabled us to see on a week-by-week basis the exact results and benefits that we have realised from the reminder service. We could see that the number of missed appointments dropped from 11 percent to five percent in these clinics in December alone."

Meers said the trust, armed with this data, had therefore decided to introduce the reminder service to its rheumatology, endoscopy, respiratory, endocrine and hand therapy clinics this month, before eventually rolling it out across the hospital.

The data being gleaned by the trust is also supporting more informed negotiations with the local primary care trust, said Meers. And as MedeAnalytics is a hosted solution, he said, the trust has secure, remote access to the reports that show how it is performing generally.